Dear Mr Nair, I agree with you that an undivided India would be untenable. Infact, I often feel the India of today is a splintered group trying desperately to keep itself together but that is another post.
The four estates of democracy maybe the legislative, judiciary, executive and a free and unfretted press, but I feel the pillars of democracy are its education system, an equitable per capita income and to a large extent an ideology of secularism. India has none of these. More that half its population is illiterate or semi-literate, there are vast disparities in its income distribution and it pays lip service to secularism. As a result, we have powerful vested interests that gain popularity or momentum and come to power. The silent middleclass remains unrepresented. Most functional democracies have a robust middleclass that forms the bell of the curve rather than the fringe. India, as someone eloquently put it is a "functioning anarchy". Elisabeth --------------------------- --- Radhakrishnan Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It's not irrational to believe that an undivided > India would have been > untenable on many counts: too big and ungovernable > with too many pulls > and pressures -- not to speak of the sectarian > violence and even civil > wars that are all too conceivable. True secularism > and democracy are > unpalatable concepts to vast sections of the South > Asian population. > > -- RKN > _______________________________________________ > Goanet mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
